This is the biggest spider fossil ever found
Posted by staff / January 17, 2014 body lengthcentimetersfossilPaul Selden
This specimen’s body length is 1.65 centimeters, and its first leg length is 5.82 centimeters.
“It’s unique because it’s intermediate between the more primitive kinds of the araneomorph, or ‘true’ spiders, and the well-known orbweavers that we see around us commonly today,” says says Paul Selden, professor of invertebrate paleontology with the department of geology at the University of Kansas. “While it’s the largest known fossil spider, it’s not the largest spider, which is a Brazilian tarantula.”
Full story at Futurity.
Photo credit: U. Kansas
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